Surging Carroll turns out the Lights in Helena

The Montana State University-Northern Lights have been coming on strong in recent weeks. But they, once again, ran into an old foe that they just couldn’t get past.

This past weekend in Helena, Northern dropped a pair of Frontier Conference road games to Carroll College, including falling 77-56 Saturday night. In that game, Carroll jumped ahead early, but Northern closed the game to 35-26 by halftime. The Lights continued to fight in the second half, but they couldn’t get any closer, and the Saints show 50 percent and made six second-half 3-pointers to pull away for good.

Carroll also got a huge, 30-point outing from Jovan Sljivancanin, while on the other end, Jomel Boyd scored 15 points, and David Harris and Aaron Collins each added 10, though the Lights made a season-low three triples.

The Lights had another shot at the Saints Sunday afternoon inside the Carroll P.E. Center, but again, they fell just short. Trailing just 33-32 at halftime, Northern was in good position to overtake Carroll in the second half, but a late 7-0 spurt by Carroll allowed them to hold Northern off at the end.

This time around, Northern defended the three much better, but Sljivancanin had another big game with 22 points and nine rebounds. Boyd had 16 points and nine boards for the Lights, while Mascio McCadney added 16 and Harris scored 13 as the Lights fell to 5-7 in the Frontier.

Northern comes back home to close out play in the Armory Gymnasium with games against Providence Wednesday and Western Saturday and Sunday.

“It was a tough weekend final score-wise,” MSU-N Head coach Shawn Huse said. “I really liked how everyone played and am very proud of their effort. We had our shots in and just could not capitalize enough. On the road against a conference team that is playing good basketball, you have to strike back just a little more than we did. I am definitely heartbroken and disappointed for the guys, especially tonight. That being said, there is no time to wallow in it. We need to go right back to work, on a busy short week ahead, if we want to have a successful home stand.”

Carroll 77, Lights 56

MSU-N - Jomel Boyd 7-11 1-1 15, Micaiah Hauser 0-0 0-0 0, Zyare Ruffin 2-4 0-0 5, T.J. Reynolds 0-1 0-0 0, Aaron Collins 4-6 0-0 10, Jesse Keltner 1-2 0-1 2, CJ Nelson 0-4 2-2 2, Mascio McCadney 4-12 0-1 8, David Harris 4-11 2-4 10, Nakyel Shelton 2-2 0-0 4, Allen Sims 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 5-9 56.

CC - Shamrock Campbell 3-7 0-0 8, Jovan Sljivancanin 13-21 2-2 30, Jaedon Lieberg 0-0 0-0 0, Brendan Temple 2-7 2-2 7, Jonny Hillman 1-4 1-2 4, Sayer Patton 0-1 0-0 0, Ifeanyi Okeke 4-6 1-1 10, Dennis Flowers III 3-5 3-4 11, Malachi Afework 0-1 0-0 0, Gui Pedra 0-1 5-5 5, Murat Guzelocak 1-2 0-0 2, Brad King 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-55 14-16 77.

Halftime: Carroll 35-26. 3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 3-14 (Ruffin 1-3, Collins 2-3, Nelson 0-1, McCadney 0-3, Harris 0-3, Sims 0-1), Carroll College 9-16 (Campbell 2-3, Sljivancanin 2-4, Temple 1-1, Hillman 1-2, Patton 0-1, Okeke 1-1, Flowers III 2-2, Afework 0-1, Pedra 0-1). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 26 (Boyd 8), Carroll College 41 (Sljivancanin 9). Fouls Montana State-Northern 16, Carroll College 16. Fouled out: none.

Carroll 70, Lights 64

MSU-N - Jomel Boyd 8-13 0-0 16, Zyare Ruffin 0-2 0-0 0, T.J. Reynolds 0-1 0-0 0, Aaron Collins 0-1 0-0 0, C.J. Nelson 0-4 0-0 0, Mascio McCadney 5-13 4-4 16, David Harris 5-13 2-2 13, Nakyel Shelton 2-3 0-0 6, Allen Sims 4-8 1-1 9, Jesse Keltner 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 26-60 7-7 64.

CC - Shamrock Campbell 5-13 6-6 17, Jovan Sljivancanin 10-18 2-3 22, Brendan Temple 3-5 0-0 6, Jonny Hillman 3-4 4-5 11, Ifeanyi Okeke 1-5 0-0 2, Dennis Flowers III 2-6 2-5 6, Malachi Afework 0-0 0-0 0, Gui Pedra 1-2 0-0 2, Murat Guzelocak 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 27-57 14-19 70.

Halftime: Carroll 33-32, 3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 5-16 (Reynolds 0-1, Collins 0-1, Nelson 0-1, McCadney 2-4, Harris 1-4, Shelton 2-3, Sims 0-2), Carroll College 2-8 (Campbell 1-4, Hillman 1-2, Flowers III 0-1, Guzelocak 0-1). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 33 (Boyd 9), Carroll College 34 (Sljivancanin 9). Fouls Montana State-Northern 16, Carroll College 12. Fouled out: none.